In the early to mid 2000s they were the sexy glamorous team and free agents loved it there, and they used the same tricks that Houston used i.e. no state tax, but they've seemed to have a bad run at the big names lately, no D-Will and now Howard. Has the league just caught up in terms of facilities and player comforts? I remember Dallas was the first team with Ipads, nice locker rooms etc.

He was great for us in the same way Barea was, in the sense that they were both able to transcend their prior mediocrity exactly when we needed them to; however, I (personally) don't think he was worth what NY was willing to give him.

I like Cuban as an owner but his reliance on building through free agency doesn't seem sustainable in the long term. This shouldn't cause a FA to shy away, but until the Mavs begin to develop players then I wouldn't put him in the upper echelon of owners.

but the free agents they did acquire were signed to long term deals. Whereas Cuban is playing plug & play, experimenting with what works with Marion, Carter & Dirk and one year contracts for free agency leftovers. That's not going to appeal to the big free agents of the offseason.

Cuban wanted space last summer to go after Deron and missed out on him. He then signed 1 year deals to have space to go after Dwight/Paul this summer but didn't get them, so he signed 1 year deals. This is so he can try and get Lebron and whoever else is up next summer.... and miss on them too probably

"'Based means being yourself. Not being scared of what people think about you. Not being afraid to do what you wanna do. Being positive. When I was younger, based was a negative term that meant like dopehead, or basehead. People used to make fun of me. They was like, ‘You’re based.’ They’d use it as a negative. And what I did was turn that negative into a positive. I started embracing it like, ‘Yeah, I’m based.’ I made it mine. I embedded it in my head. Based is positive.'"

"based" is referring to the rapper Lil B who goes by Based God. if you're cool enough, you're based. it's basically saying you have swag but it's used jokingly, for the most part. also, people ask based god to fuck their bitch.

Considering we won a championship recently AND without an abundance of big fish, its mindboggling. Seems like Dirk + Chandler + some very good veterans and role players is a really hard formula to replicate.

The perception around the league is probably that after just winning a championship, Dallas immediately cut ties with one of the most important players on their team. Tyson was the defensive presence on that team and they fell apart without him. I'd say that it's very likely that people took this as Cuban having no loyalty to players and being always willing to turn over the roster in order to try to win.

Definitely a dick move in retrospect. I think now that free agency has played out twice without a definitive payoff to releasing Chandler that much is true. However, it doesn't change the fact that Dallas' championship roster was pretty much as "on the fly" as their subsequent two seasons' teams. If we become the franchise that finds a Tyson Chandler in the rough every once in a while, I'll be satisfied.

And how many big defensive presences like Tyson are out there? Good big men are rare in this league, and everyone tries to snap at least one of them, which usually results in overpaying. This also gives them the luxury of"picking which team to play" (hello, Dwight Howard!!) it's hard to attract good big men with the "on the fly" roster

But look at Chandler's play this year. It was good but not at the level he played in 2011.

I love Tyson Chandler but if Cuban would have signed him to a 3 or 4 year 50/60 million bucks and he played like he played this year in NY it could be looked at as a bad signing. Hindsight it 20/20, I know but Cuban had to try and take a shot at a game-changing player like Howard or Williams to take the reigns from Dirk.

Cuban offered Chandler a contract, but this was one year before the new luxury tax, so he could only offer him a one year contract and try to free up cap space the next year. NY had the money to offer a multi-year contract with the luxury tax, so he went to NY. It was a business move, Dallas wanted him, but couldn't guarantee him the money he deserved.

Chandler got a contract that wasn't in the plans for Dallas. Yes, they might be more competitive now and I believe they should have paid him; especially after paying Dampier and Diop... It's not like Chandler was a victim though. He's getting around 20mil a season in one of the biggest markets in the world.

My hunch (and I have nothing to back this up) is that the Mavs winning a title and then Cuban immediately dismantling the team probably turns a lot of players off.

I mean think about it from the players' perspective: you'd imagine winning a title would be the ultimate thing you could do to show ownership your worth. So if he's just letting the title team walk... how's he going to treat players that are struggling?

Maybe the players view Cuban as too much of a business man. He didn't sign Nash back in the day because Nash was old and injury prone. Nash went on to win mvp titles. He didn't sign chandler because the numbers were too much for him. Chandler is a dpoy candidate.

Also, the mavs' superstar isn't as publicized as other superstars of his caliber.

Why? Part of it is location, the other half is about loyalty, or lack thereof on behalf of Cuban/Nelson.

When Cuban bought the Mavs he was determined to send a message that he was going to spend big and make the Mavs relevant. One of his first moves was to resign Michael Finley with a 7 year +$100 million contract. This deal raised eyebrows back then. This was about more than money to Cuban though. It was about showing loyalty and convincing outsiders that he was an owner you WANTED to play for.

Fast forward. Dirk and company take this team to the promised land, Champions. By this time, Cuban and Nelson had built a reputation as Fantasy League owners making constant trades. Once outsiders watched Cuban let his entire championship team walk without an opportunity to repeat (at least keep T-Chan!) and show loyalty to no one it started to sink in for people..

I can imagine our coveted free agent targets:
"My future is uncertain working for these guys...I will be at their Fantasy League whims..more so than with any other owners...and fuck it, there is no ocean front property in Dallas anyway."

I want to be very clear that I do not hate Cuban, some folks assumed i did. I'm just pissed that he didn't send the same kind of message to the league after the Championship that he sent signing Finley. Yea its expensive to retain some players under the new CBA...yea youre gonna have some luxury tax. FUCK IT. Get out of your luxury bed, walk out of your luxury house, get in your luxury car, and let your team contend dammit. Mavs merch would have flown off the shelves, ratings would have remained just fine, games would have continued to sell out (real sell outs not these fake sell outs the Mavs always report) and free agents might have thought differently about signing with Cubes. I appreciate Cuban and all he's done..but dammit im pissed and the unfolding events have been humiliating. He's got alot of work to do.. or will he sell?..who knows at this point.

I'm drawing a blank at big time free agents the Mavs signed in the 2000's. They made a lot of trades and acquired some good players, but I can't really remember an impact free agent that signed in Dallas. Not saying it didn't happen, just drawing a blank when trying to think about it.

More to the point, I don't know how much a player values the creature comforts that teams provide. I'm not saying they don't value them, but to what extent?

I think the two biggest motivators these days are money and chances of winning right away. We live in an era of instant gratification and we're seeing free agents looking to give themselves the best chance to win now.

Look at this years crop of free agents...

Paul stayed with the Clippers - Young team, second options to play with (Griffin, Pierce, Garnett), playoff team looking to make the jump at winning now.

Howard to the Rockets - Another young playoff team poised to make the jump to contender with second options (Lin, Harden)

Iguodala to G.State - Young, playoff team looking for a deep run with higher level players (Curry, Lee)

You get the idea. I'm basing my opinion on anecdotal evidence, but it seems clear that if you aren't (at least by perception) poised to make a jump at being a contender, it becomes very difficult to sign an impact player.

As much as I love Dallas, the Mavericks never really attracted any big-time free agents. They just got labelled a team that free agents would sign with.

For years, most of Dallas' success came from international scouting. Getting players from France, China, Germany, Iceland, Eastern Europe, etc made them competitive and contenders.

I think because they were winning, played an exciting style of basketball, devoted fans, and Cuban willing to pay big money, Dallas got pegged as a desirable place to sign, even though they didn't actually sign a big name free agent.

Yeah in the early 2000's Dirk was much younger and they had a very steady solid core of players. Living in Dallas, I know how great of an owner Mark Cuban is, and with that being said, after Dirk retires the Mavs will enter full blown rebuilding which is needed. But you can't start until he retires because you couldn't give him away...

This is a tad irrelevant to real life, but I was playing 2k13, and I was drafting first overall (Via the 76ers) and the Mavs offered me, for that pick, Dirk and the third overall pick. Seemed a little too good to me lol.

Its not that Dallas has somehow become undesirable. Its just that there are other teams that are more attractive to free agents. I bet you Dallas could have signed Al Jefferson or Millsap, but they did not go for them for what ever reason. Dallas cannot get the most coveted ones because they are not a contender even with them. They are a few players short of making any push. The only one they have is Dirk and Carlisle.

Dirk is getting old, Cuban struck out going for a Miami style homerun, should have paid, maybe even overpaid an FA last year so he'd have a better chance at getting his 3rd star this year rather than trying to get 2 top FA's in the same year. Until one commits nobody else is gonna want to come.

10 years ago when I was in junior high, finding out that Cuban provided players with TVS AND VIDEOGAMES in the locker room had me convinced he was the greatest owner ever. Now that I am older, wiser, and in debt, it seems like there are other things to consider. As you've all said, he kind of did Dirk dirty with dealing Chandler. I also think his heart was much more in it 10 years ago.

We had the best record in 2007 in the NBA, lost to the Warriors, fuck them, then went on to have 3 more great seasons and even won a championship, but free agency dismantled a team that was getting old. So now the Mavs are trying to land a big free agent because they can still be contenders honestly with an inside presence as seen by Tyson Chandler, but they aren't willing to try and get young, inexperienced players from the start, so they lose out on all the good young players and end up having to sign a PG off the streets like Jones...

Y'all's time will come and I will hate the shit out of you when it does. We had the exact same problem. We haven't won over a big name free agent (besides Dwight) since, who, TMac?? We've been trying to bring a big superstar in since Yaoza went down, but no one gave a shit about us. Only thing we could do is try to trade for big names and that didn't work for like 5 years either. We lucked out and got Harden, but if anyone remembers correctly Howard wanted NOTHING to do with us in FA last year. Just build up in the draft and they will start looking at you again. I shouldn't be giving advice to another Texas team, so I'll end with a Fuck Dallas.

Dallas hasn't ever been particularly "sexy glamorous team" honestly. Now why no one wanted to play for Dallas then I'm not sure. They were a fast, young and very good team there for a while. Maybe people didn't want to play for Nelson. Who knows? Now the choice between Dallas and Houston is no choice at all. Houston is on the way up, Dallas is on the way down. Houston has a history of great centers, Tyson Chandler might be the best center in Dallas history. Before the last few years I was sort of puzzled myself. Now it seems pretty obvious.

Those were/are our standards. Outside if Tyson's time with Dallas they've had a hole in the center position for as long as I've been a fan. 10+ years of failed band-aids. Injury prone Tyson was the best center option to come about in some time. And have you seen him? He's sexy as fuck.

in fans eyes yes, but players care about different things. cuban has shown tremendous loyalty to dirk, but none to other players. he had no issue getting rid of chandler and nash even after they were big contributors. hes also overbearing and doesnt seem to be willing to kiss players asses, which is what they want.

players want management that respects them (ie worships them), which is part of making a great pitch and showing how much he wants them, and paying the existing players when they are due. he has done neither of those things, and trashing derron williams saying they are better without him made cuban look like a spurned jealous ex gf.

Chandler wanted too much money for being a 30 year old center that isn't a top five, Nash also costed too much money. Cuban knows that Dirk was the 2nd best PF in the league and a very unique and great player...His loyalty to Dirk is justified...

There are arguments for letting both go, but sometimes its more about keeping a player and team intact even if its over paying. I know many fans were shocked the pacers matched hibbert, but where would they be without him? Where would the mavs be if they kept nash, and chandler?

Shooting a reality tv show when you're supposed to be courting the biggest free agent /trade bait available shows players you're not taking things as seriously as you could be. "what have you done for me lately eddie!?!"

This hasnt really happened the way fans are assuming. Marquee free agents arent avoiding dallas anymore than they are boston or san antonio. Dallas missed on 3-4 of those free agents because they found better upfront options at the time, but this isnt a large enough sample size to assume it means top players dont want to play in dallas, and its silly to infer such truth.

Am I the only one that thinks Calderon and Ellis are going to do great there and attract a few nice free agents next year to make us a contender? All we really need is a young sf to back up Marion and a decent center and were good

To me, Dallas has always been the team to sign or trade for those guys that were All-Stars a few times but were entering the declining portions of their careers. I've never seen them as a team that landed the really big talents because they really never had the money to dish out to them.

High profile players generally don't want to hear anything negative about themselves when they don't play well or screw up and they damn sure don't want to hear it from an owner... Cuban is an in your face guy.